


Rationalization

by dragons_SRSunn



Series: Insights [4]
Category: Warriors - Erin Hunter
Genre: Pre-Canon, Pre-Into the Wild, Yellowfang's Secret
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-08
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:28:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26902903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragons_SRSunn/pseuds/dragons_SRSunn
Summary: Brokenstar takes Marigoldkit and Mintkit out into the forest for training.That's what they thought, anyway.
Series: Insights [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1877074
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	Rationalization

**Author's Note:**

> This is really written by a friend who was too shy to get her own account.

"This way," Brokenstar called to the two young kits as he led them through the forest.

Marigoldkit and Mintkit gazed around with wide eyes. This was the first time they had been out of the camp.

"Everything is so...big." Marigoldkit whispered.

Mintkit nodded. "And it smells so, so..."

"Hurry up!" Brokenstar snapped from up ahead. 

If the kits had been only a little older and more experienced (inasmuch as a kit can be experienced) they might have wondered why Brokenstar seemed so eager to get them away from camp. After all, kits went out training all the time. Not as young as they were, but still.

But they weren't, and so they didn't.

"Where are we going?" Mintkit asked when he and his sister had caught up to the ShadowClan leader.

"Training," Brokenstar replied.

"I know! But where? Are we going to train with the other apprentices?" The little gray kit asked eagerly.

"No," Brokenstar replied.

"How far away from camp are we going?" Marigoldkit interjected anxiously. "Brightflower says we're too young to go out of camp yet."

Brokenstar hissed. "Who is Clan leader, me or Brightflower?"

Marigoldkit blinked. "You. But-"

Brokenstar interrupted. "And do you want to be evaluated to see if you are ready to start training or not?"

"I do!" Marigoldkit assured him. "But-"

A slightly older, slightly more experienced cat would have known not to argue with Brokenstar, especially when he got that look in her eyes. But Marigoldkit was very young, and she didn't.

"Then _follow me_!" Brokenstar swept the two kits ahead of him with his tail. They walked on for a while, the silence broken only by Brokenstar's occasional exhortations to walk faster. But they (mostly) didn't mind. They couldn't wait till they were able to start learning how to fight and hunt. Besides, they were too distracted by the sounds and smells they had only heard of until now. They heard the rustling of leaves, the call of birds, and was that a mouse?

Mintkit leapt.

"I almost got it!" he wailed.

"'Almost' catches no prey," Brokenstar meowed shortly. Then he added, "But if you were a little bigger, you would certainly have caught it."

Mintkit glowed.

It was true; even now, as a small, still-nursing kit, Mintkit had come so close to catching the mouse that he had a drop of its blood and a few strand of its fur stuck to his tiny claws. As a warrior, he would be a great hunter.

"Come on," Brokenstar called to the kits as they inspected the mouse hairs on Mintkit's claws. "You can explore later."

"We weren't exploring," Mintkit started to squeak, but was interrupted by Marigoldkit asking, "What's that smell?"

"Fox," the ShadowClan leader replied.

"What's a fox?" Marigoldkit wanted to know. "Where is it?"

"Not nearby."

"Are we going to hunt it?"

"No."

"What are we going to do?" Mintkit piped up.

"You," Brokenstar growled, "are going to be walking very quietly until you can't smell anything else besides fox scent."

"Why?" Marigold asked.

Brokenstar gritted his teeth. "Because it's part of the test."

Marigoldkit's mouth opened slightly. Then she and Mintkit walked as quietly as they could for some time.

Finally Mintkit whispered loudly, "I can't smell anything except the fox."

"Good." Brokenstar paced around, sniffing.

"What do we do now?" Mintkit asked. "Do we fight each other?"

Marigoldkit shied away from him. "I don't _want_ us to fight each other."

"Not for real," her brother assured her. "Just to see if we're any good." He turned to the ShadowClan leader. "Right?"

Brokenstar paced closer, his claws unsheathed. Mintkit had never noticed how big his claws were before. Why hadn't he ever noticed that before?

"...Right?" he mewed again, uncertainly.

"You should know," Brokenstar meowed softly, "that I am truly sorry about this. You would have been strong warriors, fine hunters and fighters." He nodded to the mouse hairs still stuck to Mintkit's claws. His hushed tone was somehow more frightening than if he had raged and yowled. "You would have made ShadowClan strong. But that mangy old medicine cat keeps getting in my way, keeps trying to stop me, so I have to stop _her_. It's the only way ShadowClan will be as strong as it was always meant to be."

"What do you mean?" Marigoldkit would have asked, but her mouth was dry. Around them, the forest was silent, as if the surrounding wildlife expected something terrible to happen and was hiding, except for Marigoldkit's heartbeat pounding in her ears and for her brother's fast breathing next to her. They huddled close to each other. An odd, terrifying light burned in Brokenstar's eyes. This wasn't how training was supposed to be, not at all.

"I regret this," Brokenstar told them. "But it must be done, for the good of the Clan."

He locked eyes with the kits.

Then he lunged. 


End file.
